Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013
69. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the programmes he intends to run under the dormant accounts fund this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33733/13]
View answerI have allocated €6.385 million for Dormant Accounts Measures in 2013, which includes €2.835 million to cover once off costs such as health and safety training, personal protective clothing, necessary equipment and materials, that will be incurred by local authorities providing placements in the Department of Social Protection’s (DSP’s) Local Authority Employment Initiative, with the remainder to be used to meet existing contractual commitments.
The Disbursement Plan of 2009, put in place by the Dormant Accounts Board, will be replaced later this year by a new disbursement scheme in accordance with the Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Act 2012. My Department is consulting with relevant Government Departments and other stakeholders as appropriate in relation to drafting the disbursement scheme. The new scheme will be submitted to Government for approval and, in accordance with the 2012 Act, laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. It will operate from next year.
The legislation also provides for the preparation of an action plan each year following the making of a scheme. The plan, which will also be subject to consultation, must indicate the programmes or types of projects that may apply for disbursement and the maximum funds available. Different amounts may be specified in the plan in relation to a particular class or classes of programme or project. Once the plan is adopted, a copy must also be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
Government Departments and agencies will still have to source monies for dormant accounts programmes and measures from their Exchequer allocations, in the same way as with any other funding programmes. When the monies expended on dormant accounts measures and programmes are reimbursed from the Dormant Accounts Fund, the refund is to the Exchequer rather than to the spending Department. For this reason, dormant accounts expenditure is subject to the same constraints within Departments as any other spending programmes. At a time of severe budgetary pressures, resulting in reduced allocations across Government Department Votes, there is a need to prioritise funding programmes. Expenditure on new dormant accounts measures or programmes could potentially reduce spending on other existing programmes, and would serve to increase Government debt levels. However, this is a matter I am prepared to keep under review, particularly in the context of any improvement to the budgetary situation.
